Avocado eaters can expect large and good quality fruit this summer with the country experiencing one of the biggest avocado harvests yet.

Four weeks into this year's harvest the fruit marketing manager for packhouse operator Apata, Jim Tarawa, says they are experiencing a clean crop with large numbers of fruit.

A record crop of avocados are starting to be packed and exported at Apata. See video interview below with Apata's Jim Tarawa, speaking from the packhouse.

'There is a lot of fruit coming through – we are looking at a large crop with quality fruit,” says Jim.

'This is one of the biggest crops the New Zealand industry has handled.

'When you get into these big numbers, you need to be able to handle the crop and this is what we are focusing on. We have been ready for it for years.”

Apata is expecting to pack more than a million trays this harvest with 56,000 trays going into the domestic wholesale and retail markets, with Jim estimating $11-12 a tray for large size fruit compared to the $17-18 per tray they received for smaller fruit last year.

'From the export picks we will continue to supply the domestic market, which is very important for growers. We need to make sure there is enough to supply the market all the time.”

For export, the first shipments of Bay of Plenty avocados are arriving in Japan and are expected in the United States of America in the next few days.

Despite a late start to the season in the Bay of Plenty, Avocado Exporters' Council Chairman John Carroll says the harvest is on schedule and he expects 3.8 million trays for export.

So far, 60 per cent of the fruit has been exported to Australia, but the first shipments to Japan, Korea and USA are expected to arrive in the next week.

John says three weeks of harvesting, each week has been bigger than the last.

'We are keeping ahead of it and managing.

'I think from this week onwards we will be at a pace that we can sustain until Christmas when the northern hemisphere finishes.”

It is only early in the season and John says the only market looking slightly 'sticky” is the Australian wholesale market as there is still some local product available.

'There is a bit more Australian fruit hanging around in the Australian domestic market than we first thought, however, it is only early in the season.”